Vanishing Vultures from Indian Sky

As the vultures in the sky are missing, the government and

non-government agency and organizations in India have come forward to

bring back the scavenging birds. The scientist and environmentalists

apprehend that after Pakistan and Nepal, the vulture population of India

had been declined by more than 97% in the last few years.

There were about 40 million vultures in early Eighties in the country, but a

survey conducted by Bombay Natural History Society in 2007 revealed

that there remained nearly 11,000 white-backed vultures, 1000

slender-billed vultures and 44,000 long-billed vultures in the

country, said Dr Vibhu Prakash, the principal scientist for the

vulture conservation breeding programme at BNHS, Mumbai.

Statistics reveal that India has nine species of vultures in the wild

including the Oriental White-backed Vulture, Long billed Vulture,

Slender-billed Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Red Headed Vulture, Indian

Griffon Vulture, Himalayan Griffon, Cinereous Vulture and Bearded

Vulture.

Among them, the white-backed, long-billed and slender-billed vultures

are recognized as critically endangered by the International Union for

the Conservation of Nature. More over, they are listed as Schedule I

species in the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which is

applicable to the tiger and one-horned rhino also.

Rapid urbanization, destruction of habitat (primarily the loss of

high-rise trees, where the vultures go for nesting) and many other

modern day factors (like the rampant use of pesticides-DDT, hitting

aeroplan, other moving objects in the sky, electric power lines and

even poisoning of vultures in some cases) have caused the declination

of vulture population in South and Southeast Asia .

In fact, the vultures were almost wiped out from Bangladesh , Thailand ,

Vietnam , Laos , Cambodia , Malaysia , Singapore by Nineties. Now the

countries like Pakistan , Nepal and India are losing the vulture

population drastically.

The vulture normally does not hunt living animals (in rare cases, the

birds may kill the wounded or sick), but depends on carcasses of

livestock and wildlife for their primary food supplement. The

scavenging birds that way help in keeping the environment clean.

Unlike the dog or the crow, the vulture eats the flesh of carcasses

completely and cleanly. The birds thus prevent the spreading of some

severe diseases like rabies and anthrax among the wildlife, livestock

and also the human beings.

A matured vulture may weighs up to 10 kgs and it needs almost

half-a-kg meat everyday. And the most common theory emerges from here

that vultures die of eating toxic meat with high percentage of

diclofenac residue.

It may be mentioned that diclofenac is a commonly used veterinary

drugs, which is anti-inflammatory and has the quality of pain

relieving. It is cheap and can be used for treating the cattle,

buffalo, sheep and goats.

Scientists suspect that the diclofenac remains active for a longer

period in the carcasses of those treated animals, which finally

affects the vultures, as they consume the meat. The drugs reportedly

cause dehydration of the vultures and soon they die visceral gout and

even kidney failure.

Dr Prakash, who serves BNHS as its deputy director, claims that there

is very strong evidence suggesting that diclofenac was the cause of

the mortality of vultures. "We found that, over 75% of vultures which

were discovered dead or died of visceral gout had diclofenac in their

tissues," he asserted.

Nick Lindsay, the vulture programme head of Zoological Society of

London too supported the views, "It has been widely recognised that the main

problem for vultures in South Asia is diclofenac. All the research has

been done and more work in the wild is on-going which continues to

support the original findings of the work by the Peregrine Fund that

provide diclofenac kills vultures.

Responding to this writer from Bedfordshire, Lindsay also added, "If these

species are to be saved in the wild then diclofenac must not be used

to treat cattle if the carcasses are left in the fields for vultures

to eat."

But not everyone is ready to endorse the vulture- diclofenac theory.

Ajay Poharkar, a veterinary doctor of Maharashtra animal husbandry

department argues that apart from the analgesic drug diclofenac,

malaria is also a major cause of vulture deaths.

"I always thought the diclofenac theory was inadequate. One vulture

requires around 500 gram of meat per day. In that case, there should

be a very little trace of diclofenac in their bodies," Poharkar said

in an interview.

Putting his views in a reputed journal ´Current Science´ recently,

Poharkar cited his experience about working on vultures at Gadchiroli

(in Vidarbha near Nagpur of Maharashtra). He argues that the

Gadchiroli farmers are too poor to use diclofenac on a mass scale.

Rather he and his associates found malarial parasite in the

blood-smear sample of the vulture deaths at Gadchiroli, he claimed.

The outcome was confirmed by the Hyderabad based Centre for Cellular

and Molecular Biology and the veterinary college in Mumbai.

"It is amazing that the malarial symptoms are quite similar to that

caused by diclofenac like shivering, ruffled feathers, respiratory

distress, circling movement of head, greenish watery diarrhea,

paralysis and anemia of the vultures," Poharkar disclosed.

Chris Bowden, the vulture programme director of Royal Society for the

Protection of Birds, however denied that malaria is a major cause of

vulture deaths. "Even the article in Current Science (mentioned

in the article), clearly states that diclofenac is the main cause of

widespread vulture declines across the subcontinent. It proposes that

malaria might be an additional cause, but the data presented to

support this is very far from conclusive," asserted Bowden.

The BNHS started launching a rigorous campaign against the diclofenac

since 2003. India introduced the drugs in 1993. Following the BNHS

initiative and the long standing demand from environment and animal

protection groups, New Delhi banned the manufacture and importation of

diclofenac for veterinary purposes in 2006. Later Nepal and Pakistan

also banned it.

In Nepal, where all species including white-rumped, sender-billed and

red-headed vultures have been facing declination drastically, an

innovative way is adopted. The Bird Conservation Nepal has launched

three vulture restaurants in the Tarai areas of the country. Titled

Zatayu Restaurant for the scavengers, they collect the dying cows from

different villages and later their carcasses are offered to the

vultures.

With an aim to preserve the vultures, the BNHS propagated the concept

of captive breeding as the only viable option to save the creatures.

Dr Prakash highlighted that considering the fast declination of

vultures and also the availability of diclofenac in the markets, the

conservation breeding programme appears to be the only way of saving

the species.

"By bringing some vultures in captivity, the life of these vultures is

saved and once they start breeding, they would augment their

population. The vultures will be released back in the wild once we are

sure that there is no diclofenac available in system," he narrated.

The century old BNHS, whish is recognized as one of the most reputed

wildlife research organisations in South Asia , has already taken

initiatives for the captive breeding programmes.

With the permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests

(GoI) and supports from a number of international funding organizations

like Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK), Zoological

Society of London , Peregrine Fund (US), the BNHS runs three vulture

conservation breeding centres at Pinjore of Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa of

West Bengal and Rani of Assam .

Speaking to this writer from Mumbai, a BNHS spokes person informed

that till date, the Pinjore centre has 120 vultures and Rajabhatkhawa

centre has 76 vultures of three species (white-backed, long-billed and

slender-billed vulture). The Rani centre has 33 vultures of two

species (white-backed and slender-billed vulture).

"The birds at Pinjore and Rajabhatkhawa were brought from different

parts of the country. But those are at Rani are largely from its own

State. Of course, 14 slender-billed vultures at Pinjore and 12

slender-billed vultures at Rajabhatkhawa have been brought from Assam .

Our objective is to have 50 birds of each of the three species at

Pinjore and Rajabhatkhawa and 50 birds each of white-backed and

long-billed vulture at Rani," revealed the official adding that

seventy five percent of the vultures are (will be) collected as

nestlings or juveniles and rest as adults or sub-adults.

Mentionable that Among Indian States of Assam , West Bengal , Rajasthan,

Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and

Maharahtra have reported the natural breeding population of vultures.

The Union environment ministry has also decided to establish four

additional rescue and breeding centres in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh),

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa) and Junagarh ( Gujarat )

under the supervision of the Central Zoo Authority of India.

It is however not only the environmentalists who expressed concern at

the declining of vultures from the sky, but the Parsi people of India

remained equally worried at the development, though for a religious

reason.

The Parsis, who fled Persia --the present day Iran -- centuries back

and made India their permanent homeland, practice the religion of

Zoroastrianism. Nearly 100,000 Parsi people live in major cities like Mumbai,

Hyderabad and Kolkata.

According to their religious practice, the dead bodies cannot be

buried or burnt because the corpses could pollute the Panchabhootam

(earth, water, air, ether and fire). Hence their bodies are left in a

high-rise ´ Tower of Silence ´ to be consumed by the scavengers.

"Unfortunately the vultures have disappeared from our region and a

sustained breeding project for vultures has become essential," said

Khojeste P. Mistree of the World Alliance of Parsi and Irani

Zoroastrians. Speaking to this writer, Mistree also added, "The

vulture happens to have been the first scavenger of the world and

hence they should be brought back for a sustained ecological balance."

How long there were will be enough Parsis around to satisfy the

vultures is another question. According to ´Parsi Khabar´, a website

for the Parsi community in India , the Zoroastrian sect´s numbers are

diminishing because of self-imposed discouragement of intercommunity

marriages, leading to inbreeding.

Many Mumbai Parsis have been pursuing a plan to breed vultures in

captivity. However, Minal Shroff, the chairman of the Bombay Parsee

Panchayat, which runs the Tower of Silence , said scientists studying

the proposal shelved it, saying it will not be possible since vultures

appear to be particularly susceptible to diclofenac.

But many donot subscribe the theory of captive breeding of vultures.

Dr. Anil Kumar Chhangani, a wildlife expert from Department of

Zoology, JNV University , Jodhpur also expressed skepticism at the

process of vulture captive breeding as there was no such expertise

among Indian organizations.

He cautioned, "Authorities must plan well while selecting the breeding

stock for captive breeding. Birds most suitable for the purpose should

be selected, rather than unsystematically and unscientifically

collecting chicks from their natural habitat, disturbing natural

breeding."

Anil, who was associated with IUCN Birds and Mammals Breeding

Specialist Group reiterated, "The captive breeding should not be the

only way to conserve vultures. Rather a countrywide rescue programme

for the vultures should be encouraged."

Similarly, Soumyadeep Datta, an environmental activist of Northeast

argues that the captive breeding of vultures would result nothing.

"The matured vultures select their partners in the wild for breeding

and the birds lay eggs in such a situation, which cannot be arranged

in the captivity. Moreover, vultures are monogamous birds and they

maintain the loyalty of conjugal lives till deaths. Only one egg is

expected from a pair in one season. The caring mother continues its

close bond with the baby till the chick attains maturity by five

years. For any reason, vultures do not go for mating with other

species," analyzed Datta, who serves as the director of Nature´s

Beckon, an Assam based environmental NGO.

Datta, while talking to this writer also asserted that the

indiscriminate lifting of chicks, as done by the BNHS people in Assam ,

from the nests would only disrupt the male-female ratio of the

vultures. "We suspect that collecting babies from the nests will put

negative impact on the sex ratio and finally the population of vulture

in our region," Datta said.

He also claims that unlike the other parts of India , the population of

white-backed vulture and long-billed vultures have been stable if not

increased in the State. The natural breeding process of vultures is

continuing in Assam , he claimed.

The members of Nature´s Beckon suspect that the BNHS people had

started capturing vulture chick and adults in Assam since 2005. In the

long period, they must have captured nearly 100 adult and semi-adult

vultures from the State and most of them were taken to the captive

breeding centres of Haryana and West Bengal .

Maximum number of vultures was captured from Tinsukia and Dibrugarh

districts, where as Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Sibsagar and Jorhat

districts of Assam were also targeted by the BNHS people. Those

captured vultures were first brought to Guwahati by road and then

flown to New Delhi and once again taken road to arrive at Pinjore. On

the other hand, trapped vultures were taken to Rajabhatkhoa completely

by road from the place of capture.

"As per the law, while capturing wildlife from their natural habitat

for the purpose of scientific studies, the State forest department

should be involved and the forest officials must be present on the

site. But the BNHS people did not follow the guideline. Even they did

not inform the State veterinary department in the process, which is

mandatory. So we will never know the exact number of birds, which had

been taken away. Moreover any casualties at the time of capturing

chicks and adult vultures will also be out of our notice," Datta

pointed out.

Nature´s Beckon has already urged the Assam government to stop

activities of BNHS people in the region and also demanded a high level

enquiry about the fate of the birds, lifted from Assam . They also

emphasized on encouraging the community protection and rescue mission

of vultures in the region.

Asad Rahmani, the director of BNHS, has however denied allegation that

removing some chicks from the nests would disrupt the sex ratio of

vultures. He argues that the sex of any chick/young is random (except

in some reptiles where it is temperature dependent). In every

conception, there are equal chances that it could be a male or a

female. In any large population of animals, this includes human being

also the sex ratio is statistically 1:1 (or 50:50).

Responding to the queries of this writer Rahmani elaborated, "If we

remove a male vulture chick from a nest, next year the parents will

have equal chances (random) to have either a male or a female chick.

Similarly, if by chance we remove a female chick from another nest,

next year that pair would also have equal chance to have either a male

or female chick."

Rahmani also rejected the accusation that the BNHS people lifted

nearly 100 adult and semi-adult vultures from Assam , saying "After

proper permissions, we have taken less than 55 chicks, out of which 35

are in Assam at our Rani Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre."

He also disapproved the allegation of deaths of several chicks during

transportation (from Assam to West Bengal and Haryana) and asserted,

"No chick died during transport or handling. We have our own qualified

vets involved in the vulture capture, transportation and breeding

programme."

It is however for records that Rahmani faced public outrage at Guijan

of Tinchukia district of Assam during one of his recent visits to the

State. The local people had protested against the capturing of

vultures from their localities and the incident was covered by both

the print and visual media of the region.

Whatever their fate, it is certain that it will take a longtime to

restore the native population by captive breeding. Nita Shah, the BNHS

vulture advocacy program officer, acknowledges that vultures breed

slowly. As they give birth to only one chick a year and a baby takes

nearly four years to attain sexual maturity, she said, nobody should

hope ´for the population to be restored to its original size within

our lifetime´.